KNOW YOUR FAITH, LIVE YOUR FAITH,TEACH YOUR FAITH!

How Can I Practically Benefit From The Cross?

The week is a very special week where we commemorate and relive every passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then we come to the day of Good Friday where we commemorate the pinnacle of the passion, which is the cross of our Lord. We want to take something spiritual out of this pinnacle, but what can we take from the cross and apply personally into our lives? We first have to understand that at the time of Adam and Eve, these two were created under God’s authority. However, when they sinned, this authority was transferred to the devil. Therefore, since then, there has been corruption, death, etc. Nonetheless, God did not want to leave it this way, so the Holy Trinity decided that the Son would come down on earth, would be incarnate, crucified, and resurrected.

Let’s analyze the crucifixion from the book of Exodus (Exodus 7:10-12) where Moses and Aaron come, with the rod of Moses, to meet Pharaoh and the magicians. As the story goes, this rod was transformed to become a serpent. The Fathers of the Church have taught us that this transformation was a symbol of our Lord’s incarnation. Why did God choose to be incarnate in the form of a serpent? We have to understand that God took exactly what was ours. Indeed, as humans, when we sinned, we became corruptede. God thus took everything that belonged to humanity, with the exception of sin. Therefore, He was incarnate in the shape of that serpent (representing corruption). Then the magicians came and did the same, hence creating a confrontation between the powers of good and evil. Then, the serpent (Moses’ rod) ate the other serpent(s). This a symbol of the cross where God has swallowed death, eaten corruption; but remained incorruptible. He lifted up our sins on the cross, yet He remained alive. The beauty of this story is that when they came to take the serpent again, it was transformed back into a rod. The Fathers explain that this (second) transformation was a symbol of the resurrection and ascension of Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, through the cross, we have been given this authority over the powers of darkness (evil, death, corruption). In the cross, we are given the authority to live a true Christian, a pure life, but we need to believe in the cross, in that authority that has been given to us. In Matt 27:45-51, God had demonstrated in a way or another that even nature believed [in the authority of Christ], so to speak. When it came to humanity, some believed and some didn’t. The perfect example is the one of the two thieves on the cross. One believed, repented, and was saved, but the other didn’t. The good news is that both of them, in the beginning, reviled Christ, and had sinned against Him. Nevertheless, one had repented and the other not. We ought to be like this right-hand thief. As a matter of fact, no matter the extent of ours sins, we need to come back to Christ, to the sacraments, through repentance, and be given back this life of authority.

Saint Paul says, in 1 Cor 1:18, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” The cross is the power of God given to me for my personal salvation. The cross is redemption; the cross is life. The cross is the authority I should live by every single day of my life.

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                                                                teach your faith